The overall objective for Dutch humanitarian assistance is to contribute to the relief of life-threatening human needs among the most vulnerable people caused by crisis situations and natural disasters. Between 2009 and 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent a total of EUR 1.6 billion on humanitarian assistance. This report presents the summary of an evaluation on the Netherlands’ humanitarian assistance policy.

Since the Syrian conflict began, the Australian Government has responded with over $135 million for humanitarian assistance. Examining the effectiveness of this response, this evaluation considers both the efficacy of material assistance provided and that of Australia’s diplomatic efforts. It also identifies some important ways in which Australia’s response to this, and other, protracted crises might be further strengthened.

DFID’s management of its response to the Syria crisis could have been considerably better. In 2012 DFID did not have experience of how to operate a response to a challenge like the Syria crisis. It made some poor initial decisions. However, DFID’s Grant allocation appears to work effectively. During 2014 DFID moved the programme onto a more stable footing, with a longer-term focus and more multi-year funding.

The focus of HIEP programme development so far has understandably been on the establishment of the individual HIEP projects along with key partnerships and stakeholder relationships. This is creating a solid foundation for HIEP to be successful. Plans for robust, relevant evidence, support to innovation and key relationships are in place. It is now timely to start developing more detailed programme-level plans.

This evaluation finds that remote programme management (RPM) has become a normal programme management approach in the environments addressed in this evaluation. But, information management and dissemination practices are inconsistent across RPM approaches within DFID. The evaluation highlights the opportunity for DFID to dedicate specific resources to capture RPM best practice and lessons as they emerge in its Kenya/Somalia portfolio.

The End Child Marriage Programme is well-received both by communities and government. In many cases, its progress towards outputs, has outreached milestones and targets. In spite of these successes, some changes to the programme approach and logframe are needed if outcomes and impacts are to be reached and sustained. The current programme results framework does not represent some vital areas of the programme work.

This evaluation has allowed a better understanding of the situation in Laos in terms of DRR. The modalities and geographic areas of intervention of the NGOs evaluated also enabled the comparative analysis of their practices in the context of the country's situation. The evaluation also looked at issues that were of common interest to all three actors and analysed the application and effects of the MAEE's Humanitarian Aid strategy.

The Development Related Export Transactions program (ORET) is a subsidy facility. It has addressed important obstacles for development by co-financing the construction and rehabilitation of public infrastructure in developing countries. ORET has evolved from a programme of mere delivery of capital goods to a programme offering comprehensive infrastructure service packages that were also financially attractive for recipient governments.

Japan’s international emergency assistance has a high level, both in terms of quality and speed. In terms of the total amount contributed over the past 10 years, Japan’s humanitarian assistance ranks 4th in the world. The countries receiving the assistance are geopolitically diverse. The assistance provided has produced outcomes that have the desired effect for the people requiring the assistance.

The report found that despite its failure to address people’s humanitarian needs in a timely manner, the DFID pilot test has proven promising, to many extents. There were still food shortages that were not the result of the drought at the time of the intervention, and the cash received helped households to deal with these without having to resort to extreme coping strategies.